Ch.1Chapter 1

The quiet library. The scent of paper tickled my nose.

A treasure trove of knowledge. A wonderful space to gain information or cultivate refinement. There I stood, holding the Professor’s ID card while blankly looking around.

“…Ah.”

I rummaged through the oversized coat pocket that didn’t fit my body. It was a paper with a list of books to borrow. With the card in hand, I looked around and made my way to where the Librarian was.

The brown-haired Librarian was pushing a cart, shelving returned books. I approached her and carefully spoke.

“…Excuse me, I’m here on the Professor’s request. Could you help me find these?”

“Ourr, running errands again today?”

“Yes.”

When I cautiously handed over the paper, the Librarian accepted it with a smile. After parking her cart in the corner, she found the books listed on the paper one by one.

My body swayed significantly each time the Librarian found another book.

The clothes were already too big and slightly heavy on my ill-fitting frame, but when the books started weighing down my arms too, it became quite a burden.

“Isn’t that heavy? I’ll carry them to the checkout counter for you.”

“This much… is fine. Thank you for finding them.”

So this is how heavy textbooks normally are. I could only guess what these specialized books were for, not knowing their actual purpose.

After borrowing the books with the Professor’s ID card, I headed back to the Research Lab, struggling under their weight.

On my way back, someone started walking beside me. Glancing sideways, I saw it was a girl with black hair. What was unusual was that she wasn’t wearing the common uniform.

In the Academy, those who don’t wear uniforms are usually just professors… but I wasn’t sure. Judging age by appearance was already difficult, but in this world, it was especially challenging.

“Excuse me, could I help you with those?”

As we were sizing each other up, she was the one who spoke first.

Since I was small and looked young, people seemed to want to help when they saw me struggling. The Librarian was the same, so this girl probably felt similarly.

“…No, I’m fine.”

I politely declined with a shake of my head. While help would certainly be nice, considering I’d need to run errands for the Professor in the future, it would be better to get used to it and build up my strength.

It was like subtle training. Though if only my forearms got stronger, it might be a bit sad.

Before I could take more than a few steps, she took two of the books I was carrying. Surprised, I watched as the books moved away from my arms.

The girl with black hair reaching her waist and mysterious red eyes grinned as she held my books.

“These are heavy indeed. Where are you headed?”

“You really don’t need to help…”

“I actually have something I want to ask too…!”

One good turn deserves another. She seemed to want answers in exchange for her help. Honestly, that wasn’t unreasonable, so I tilted my head curiously.

Her red gaze quickly looked me up and down.

“Are you an Academy student…? Your uniform looks unfamiliar…”

“No? I’m not a student.”

“Th-then are you a Professor?!”

I heard her gasp in surprise.

There weren’t many categories of people inside the Academy, so she seemed to have concluded that if I wasn’t a student, I must be a professor.

“No… I’m just the Professor’s errand runner.”

Strictly speaking, I was closer to being property, but there was no need to go that far with someone I’d just met, so I left it at that. I thought there might be a moment of silence, but I heard a slightly bitter laugh from beside me.

“Ah… Actually, I got accepted to the Academy, but I haven’t received my student ID yet, so I can’t borrow books. When I saw you, I thought there might be a way, so I followed you.”

“…I’m not your senior. I haven’t even enrolled in the Academy.”

Maybe the Professor was busy because of the entrance ceremony? Such thoughts crossed my mind, but truthfully, it had nothing to do with me. I just stayed by her side and occasionally served as a specimen when she researched Demon Gods.

“Hmm.”

She seemed at a loss for words after trying to find the right way to address me, only to be told that wasn’t right either. As the atmosphere grew slightly awkward, I quietly spoke up.

“Should we go back and ask?”

“Huh? Ask what?”

“I thought we could ask the Professor if you could borrow a book.”

“That, that would be great…”

Seeing that she didn’t decline, I nodded. Well, asking once shouldn’t be a problem, so we headed back.

We entered the building where the Research Lab was located and went up the floors. After getting off the elevator and walking down the corridor a bit, we arrived quickly. Having the soon-to-be student help carry the books made the journey feel shorter.

“Professor, I brought the books.”

After knocking and entering, I saw the Professor rise at the sound of my voice. Professor Yuria, my owner.

Beautiful blonde hair with waves. The lustrous bounce could have been in a shampoo commercial. As the Professor approached to take the books I’d brought, she stared at the single book in my arms.

“…Huh? I asked for three books?”

She looked surprised that I only had one. I glanced back at the door I’d come through. There stood the soon-to-be student who had come with me.

“Well, someone helped me carry them…”

“Ah, hello! I’m Karen, enrolling this year!”

So her name was Karen.

“Oh, you helped our Ourr. Thank you. You’re an incoming student? There’s still some time before the entrance ceremony, what brings you to the Academy?”

“Well… I came to see if I could borrow books from the library, but I couldn’t because I don’t have my student ID yet… I was about to leave when I met your assistant…”

I was impressed at how quickly her form of address changed from “senior” to “assistant.” Is this what happens when you have social experience?

No, that’s not it.

I promised to ask if Karen could borrow books, so I should help a little.

“Professor.”

“Yes?”

“She wants to borrow a book, so I brought her to ask if you could help.”

“With less than a month until enrollment, couldn’t you just wait for your student ID…? As an accepted student, you can already enter the library. You could study there too.”

The Professor was trying to persuade me, not Karen, to refuse somehow.

With about a 20-centimeter height difference between Professor Yuria and me, I ended up looking up at her.

Well, nothing I could do then. If she said no, I couldn’t force her. When the Professor refused, I could only accept it.

Just as I was about to speak after exchanging glances, the Professor put her hand to her forehead as if she had a headache.

“…Fine, fine. I’ll help, okay? Take my ID card and borrow one more book. But promise to return it on time without any late fees?”

“Th-thank you so much!”

Karen bowed at a 90-degree angle at the Professor’s words.

I showed the Professor the ID card I had kept in my coat pocket. Seeing it, she gave a wry smile as if she couldn’t help it and returned to her desk.

As we were about to leave, my body suddenly felt lighter, and then something caught my foot.

My body was already leaning forward, but my feet couldn’t move a few centimeters further and got stuck.

“Eek!”

I fell flat with a thud. The impact was so strong that my body ached.

“Ourr!”

The Professor, who was returning to her place, rushed back to me.

Karen must have gone ahead to catch the elevator because she wasn’t there. That was fortunate. There was only one reason why I fell like this.

“Belt…”

“I told you I’d buy you new clothes, why do you insist on these oversized ones…”

As I knelt and slowly tried to get up, the Professor put her hands under my armpits and pulled me straight up.

“N-no…”

“Put it back on quickly.”

My skirt had fallen helplessly because the belt came undone. That’s why I fell, but the Professor stood me up straight despite knowing this.

I twisted the corners of my mouth. Did she really need to see my underwear in the lab to be satisfied? It would be better to pretend not to see than to help like this.

Groaning, I pulled up my skirt, and the Professor, who had been watching, sighed.

“Should we go get you new clothes tomorrow? You keep falling because these clothes are too big.”

The Professor asked with a hint of motherly concern as she watched me struggling with my skirt.

While wearing properly fitting clothes would be comfortable, I wondered what would happen when I returned to my original form. Oversized clothes are fine when you’re small, but wearing small clothes when you’re big would obviously result in an unwanted exposure show.

So I shook my head.

Not knowing when that might happen, I dreaded the thought of it occurring in a crowded place.

I didn’t want to be known as “Outdoor Exposure Ourr” circulating on the internet.

“You’re so stubborn.”

The Professor shook her head as if she couldn’t win this argument.

After all, the reason my body had shrunk was because the Professor had killed me multiple times, so there was no way I could win.